


In Her Arms

by serotonin_exe



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: And the Delancey brothers, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Let me introduce, Mention of Homophobia ;-;, Modern AU, Mother Katherine, Platonic Cuddling, Some of the other Newsies are mentioned, Sprace but u have to s q u i n t, poor race
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28790781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serotonin_exe/pseuds/serotonin_exe
Summary: She went to smile at him but her smile turned into a frown. As soon as Race entered her bedroom, he was on her bed facedown, and he seemed like he was shaking. Kat, being ever the worrier, swiftly went over to her bed and took a seat next to Race. She heard him mumbling about something. The Delanceys? Something during the eighth period? She rid her head of those words and focused her attention on the boy in front of her.
Relationships: Racetrack Higgins & Katherine Plumber Pulitzer
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	In Her Arms

It was about 3 pm on a regular, average Wednesday. Perhaps average for most people but not for Race. He currently walked the streets of New York, heading to his second favorite place in the world, other than Medda’s. School was crappy. The kids were extra crappy that day..specifically the Delancey brothers.

Race was an open person about his sexuality and his gender, coming out to his friends and the school as transgender back in seventh-grade and coming out as gay the following year. His friends, of course, loved him no matter what, his teachers, too, and family. It was an adjustment for them all - using the right pronouns and even having to deal with the teachers who didn’t care for his transition. 

Well, the Delanceys, mortal enemies of Race and his gang of “newsies” as Katherine “Plumber” Pulitzer put it, would constantly make snide remarks. His gang would always have his back, though. Not today, at least. 

The twins soaked him pretty badly in the hallway before anyone could see, right before dismissal. Race just ran straight from the hallway out of school and on his way to Katherine’s place, which was a meeting spot along with Miss Medda’s theatre. The gang weren’t out of school yet and were probably searching for him. 

Davey was the only one with a car so Race’s only resort to getting to Kat’s was walking. And to make matters worse, his phone was dead, thanks to him and Albert playing on it in world history, meaning there was no one he could call. 

This was going to be a long trip. 

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It was a few minutes past four when Katherine plopped down on her bed. Her backpack was lightly tossed on the ground, shoes kicked off, and she was talking to someone on the phone. 

Race had been waiting on her fire escape for over half an hour. He gently refused Mrs. Pulitzer’s offer to come inside. She was very fond of all of the newsies, thanks to Katherine, and often let them come inside to talk or do homework. 

“My goodness, Kelly, you are such an _idiot_ ,” Kat said, mocking-anger. She was on a _very_ important phone call with none other than Jack Kelly who just so happened to be Race’s brother and the most overprotective (in a good way) person that he had met. 

Race looked at Kat’s face, where she sat on her bed with a light pink blush on her cheeks and a smile on her lips. She was talking to Jack, _obviously_ , they did that all the time. No one called him an idiot more than she did. But anyone with an eye could tell how the two were obviously head over heels for the other but were deathly afraid to admit it aloud. 

As she babbled on the phone, Race gently knocked on her window. Seeing that she didn’t hear it, Race knocked a second time, a bit louder. Kat looked over at him and smiled warmly. 

“Call you back, Jackie, I found Racer,” she got up from her bed, coming to unlock the window. Race climbed inside her bedroom and put his backpack to the side. 

Kat walked over to her desk, still on the phone with Jack. “Yes he’s here, I’ll even send a picture to prove it. Jack, go bother Davey or something, I don’t have time for this. Uh-huh, see you tomorrow, Cowboy!” And with that, she hung up on a frantic Jack Kelly and turned her attention to Race. 

She went to smile at him but her smile turned into a frown. As soon as Race entered her bedroom, he was on her bed facedown, and he seemed like he was shaking. Kat, being ever the worrier, swiftly went over to her bed and took a seat next to Race. She heard him mumbling about something. _The Delanceys? Something during the eighth period?_ She rid her head of those words and focused her attention on the boy in front of her. 

“Race? Racetrack?” She lightly called. Kat ran her hand up and down his back in a soothing motion, something she did for all of the newsies whenever they were feeling down. 

A few sniffles came from the boy on the mattress and her heart sank for him. Kat gently pulled the boy up from his place and took him in her arms, rocking him just like her mother used to do for her. This elicited a small chuckle from Race. 

“Thanks, _Mom,_ ” he lightly joked and Kat chuckled back. The boys would often joke that Davey was the mom friend, driving them around places and reprimanding them for their antics, but they all agreed, Davey included, that Katherine was the _literal_ mom of the group. She didn’t mind that at all and loved all of her boys equally. 

The two sat on her bed like that for a while with the occasional text notification from Jack or Spot or Sarah. Race stopped shaking but he still held onto Katherine tightly, enjoying her comforting arms. 

“You wanna talk about it, babes? We were all worried sick and Mom looked a little unsettled when I came home.” She felt Race shake his head on her shoulder. 

Frowning a bit slightly, she gently pressed on. “Please, Race? I need to know what’s happening and why you ran away. I heard Romeo and Les were worried sick, Medda, too. She was ready to send the hounds out after you.”

“‘S the Delancey bruddahs, Kit, nothing more nothing less,” Race grumbled as he lifted his head up from her shoulder. He backed away a little bit but kept his hand in Kat’s, where she drew little nothings on his palms. 

“Ah, yes, the jerks who still believe that Delancey, New York was named _after_ them.” This resulted in a snort from Race. At least he was starting to come around again. 

“Well, the two morons decide that being homophobic is ‘cool’ and ‘quirky’.” Kat gasped, loudly and jumped off of her bed, getting a shoe from the ground, and marching out of the door. Well, attempting to march as Race tugged on her arms, getting her to sit back down, 

“Don’t sweat it, Kitten,” she huffed as he used that nickname. “I’s not worth someone, someone as powerful as you, hunting down two guys for being a bunch of airheads to me.”

This time Katherine got up from where she was and started to pace around her bed. Race fell back onto her bed and started up at the ceiling as he heard the small thumps of her footfalls. 

“I _literally_ swear, Eddy. I don’t need the details on what they said, but so freaking help me, you say something like that again and this shoe,” she gestured to the one that she still held in her hand, “will end up colliding with your head.”

“Awwh, and I love you, too, _Kit-Kat_.” 

“They have no right to say that to you, **no right** ,” Kat continued her tirade on the Delanceys as she stopped to ruffle Race’s hair. She dropped her shoe on the ground with a small thump. 

“I know, Kat, I know. Please don’t tell Jackie right now - he’ll end up roping all of the other guys into this and they’ll end up getting detention...and maybe a black eye.” He shuddered at the thought.

“I won’t, I won’t, but they deserve it!! **So much!** At least have me, yours truly, Katherine Plumber, head of the school paper, publish a small piece in the paper.” Her eyes shined mischievously at the teen. He just laughed at the girl who was his sister at this point and nodded encouragingly, no doubt that he was going to help her write.

Kat went and sat next to him on her bed and fell right back against the mattress to stare at the ceiling with him. 

“You wanna watch a movie? I’ll make sure to catch you up on some of the little things you missed but you and I are both in for some overdue _Race-Kat_ time.” Race smiled at the idea and nodded his head up and down, excitedly. 

So, for the next few hours, the two “siblings” curled up against each other, Race’s head in Katherine’s lap as she combed her fingers through his hair. Homework could wait. Their worries could wait. And the string of text messages from Jack could wait. The two had each other for the moment and didn’t want to change any of it. 

**Bonus**

**Cowboy** \- _hey have u found race yet???_

**Cowboy** \- _was it actually him and not a pigeon on ur fire escape??_

**Cowboy** \- _kat?_

**Cowboy** \- _ace?_

**Cowboy** \- _katherine ethel “plumber” pulitzer answer your goshdamn phone_

**Cowboy** \- _djhdbjkh_

**Cowboy** \- _pls the bois are going nuts and spot just stormed into medda’s, punching a wall_

**Cowboy** \- _kat don't yell @ me i mean smalls & sniper, too_

**Cowboy** \- _spot is scaring me and i think medda just came running with a broom_

**Cowboy** \- _is race alive? is he okay?_

**Cowboy** \- _send me a p i c t u r e, woman ;-;_

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, me completing another oneshot? And _actually _doing it in 2 days?__
> 
> _  
> _I've been reading["Kelly House"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16145399/chapters/37723859) on here and it's great, I love it, and I like Katherine's relationship with the boys in it, so I tried creating her as their big sister/another mother figure (counting Medda) in this story and I might do so in the others :)_  
> _
> 
> _  
> _(also sorry if this is super vague on everything aaaa, I might post a second part to this or something, explaining the encounter)_  
> _
> 
> _  
> _Hope you enjoyed it! Stay safe, wear a mask, drink some water__  
> 


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